following last week's superwendy and texas talk, there was an unfortunate budget bill signed in ohio that has some very bleeeh provisions restricting abortion. american dudes! why you gotta be like that?
but! let's focus on a good thing. such as this:
"I support a woman's right to safe, legal abortion because centuries
of history shows us that women are going to get abortions whether
they're safe and legal or not. And when they're not safe and legal,
these women will often die terribly or be damaged irreparably. In my
fantasy utopia, there would be no abortion. There'd be contraception
readily available and there'd be education geared toward preventing
unwanted pregnancies. Adoption would be easier.
We don't live in a
utopia, however. We live in a country where scoundrels are certain and
nuance is vilified. I opened up my own thought process above to
demonstrate that it isn't neat. But it's all taking place unified in one
man's skull. And I'm not unique in having a complex thought
relationship with abortion. I'm like a lot of people. Most people."
{rob delaney for the guardian}
* a straight father of two who loves the hell outta his children but totes believes in safe and legal abortion
"My wife, at her resting
state, is heroic, and I am, in essence, just some guy.
If I wanted
to, I could split and suffer limited consequences. In the worst-case
scenario, I'd give up half my income, or some such paltry nonsense,
which wouldn't even nip at the heels of my wife's gift of her body and
soul to our children. Not that a father who raises his children isn't a
wonderful thing; he is. He just better enter the game with a suitcase of
humility and gratitude toward the woman who birthed his child."
i like this. i find it terrifying and sad that there are people out there who can't just automatically understand the complicated nature of abortion. like, i'm not running around being all WEEEEE I WANNA HAVE ALL THE ABORTIONS! cause i think that actually would be really awful and the saddest and oh man, ow my heart and soul. but i still empathize with those who have had to make such a choice before or will have to one day. i can imagine a lot a lot a lot of greyspace circumstances where that would be the best choice. truly. (and some totally clear-cut cases, too. anyway.) but it remains true that a lot of people just can't seem to think of abortion in any terms other than the black and white murder terms. so i appreciate the position from which delaney is writing and i appreciate that he is not raging against his readers. he's pointed but not angry. or angry but not aggressive. anger is definitely a fair reaction to the restrictions being imposed. i think that the individuals at the top who are putting restrictions in place are doing so with shitty misogynist intentions. they deserve just heaps and heaps of anger. but i don't think everyone who is pro-life is in that same space. i think a lot of pro-lifers are well meaning but short-sited or ignorant and misguided. and screaming at them won't help. maybe trying to have a conversation won't change many minds. but if it changes just a few, that's still something, right? i don't know. maybe i'm just feeling chipper-cheerful and optimistic today? earlier this week i was absolutely certain there was no hope at all for the country below mine. so. day by day.
AND TOTALLY OFF TOPIC here's a wee comic that will fill you with gladness. thanks, twitterverse.
happy friday, kittins.
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